Black and White
by Cursor
Summary: People change over time, some for the better, some for the worst. In the Jade Palace, one person has been changing, and a dark, terrible, mystery looms inside the halls. Updated with full chapter 1
1. Prologue

**Black and White**

By: Cursor

* * *

Prologue

* * *

Po the panda stared up at the evening sky; a tranquil range of colors arcing from peaceful orange to peacock blue, like gentle strokes of a brush pulled over the canvas of the sky. The sun itself, burning her last hours of the day in beckoning red, was giving out a subtle aura of sleepiness to the residents of the Valley of Peace.

The panda, who had once been a colossal embodiment of laziness and gluttony, has changed much in the year he had spent in the Jade Palace along with his idols: The Furious Five. Both his body and mind have been honed every day in the past twelve months, guided and trained by the Palace's Master Shifu. Po's Kung Fu had improved greatly, reaching the point where he could easily compete against any of the other five. Perhaps even Master Shifu himself.

The now well toned Panda leaned back against the Sacred Peach Tree, and basked in the stillness of the evening. He only wished the stillness of the evening would inspire the same stillness in his mind, for it was troubled.

His once greatest hero, the Kung Fu Master Tigress, a member of the Furious Five and what he had hoped she would become a year ago, a friend, has been slowly changing as well over the past year.

While Tigress was never a social being, she was never really secluded as she had become: Spending hours over hours training and meditating alone, changing her entire wardrobe to dark combat uniforms leaving only her head uncovered and speaking less and less to her friends, and not at all to the panda.

The entire staff of the palace had been worried for some time, but no attempts to reason with the Master had succeeded, it seemed that even Master Shi Fu could no longer set her away from the dark path she was edging towards.

Po was afraid; would there soon be a second Tai Lung?

As his mind raced, his eyes closed, and his body relaxed, letting his thoughts drift, the panda slowly entered a dream state.

His eyes opened, his forehead was sweaty, his dreams haunted by visions of characters in black and objects placed irrationally in space, changing and altering impossibly.

The still peacefulness of the evening was gone, and now, in the dark, there was a certain sense of dread in the panda. There were no stars in the sky, and the moon was at the darkest point in the month, leaving the Dragon Warrior in almost complete darkness. The Kung Fu master got to his feet, squinting to see, intending to head back to the warm safety of the palace. The night was cold, and quiet.

As he rounded the peach tree, the panda thought he saw someone walk around on the other side of it. Curious, the panda followed the character, to find nothing there. He shrugged and turned about, starting to walk back to the palace. But before he could make the first step, his head turned around to the place he was standing in, and in front of him was one of the characters in black from his dreams. The panda screamed in surprise, and in his rush to step back from the character he tripped, rolling down the steep slope down from the Sacred Peach Tree.

The panda could have sworn that as he rolled, he could see the character crumble into dust, and vanish completely. He finally stopped on his back at the foothills of the climb, his eyes closed and his breathes coming in heavy, quick bursts. He opened his eyes, to see a person hovering above him. He yelped again, jumping to his feet. It was Tigress, wearing one of her full-body black combat suits.

"Ah, Tigress, I didn't see you there… I uh, was at the peach tree see…" He looked back to the peach tree, and then back at Tigress, "Uh, were you there just now?" He asked her, she did not respond.

"So uh, taking a late night stroll?" He asked conversationally, again, the tigress stared at him unblinkingly, but did not answer. "Right…" Po said, rubbing the back of his neck, not comfortable at all in the presence of the piercing glare of the female Kung Fu Master. "I'll be heading back to bed now… Heh, so uh, good night." He began walking quickly towards the dormitories, the tigress following him with her gaze.

As he entered the dormitories, he noted it must have been terribly late, for the rest of the masters were in deep sleep, as even Po's shaky steps couldn't wake them. What was Tigress doing out so late at night? Why wouldn't she talk to him at all? What happened near the peach tree? These questions haunted him with images, his dreams, the character in black crumbling into dust, Tigress' piercing glare.

The panda entered his quarters with a sigh, closing the door behind him, as he turned back towards the inside of the room, he noticed his bed was floating upside down somewhere near the ceiling, and his candle stick spinning around in the space in front of him. Drops of water from his bedside glass, now placed on the wall, dropped sideways, into a puddle on the other wall.

Po gasped, letting out a cry of surprise and falling back through his cloth door, in a bang on the floor. The rest of the masters were quick to jump outside and see what was going on, rushing to his aid, the four launched to his side, looking into his room, where his bed, candlestick and bedside water glass were exactly where they should have been.

"What's wrong Po, what happened?" Viper was the first to ask the question on their minds.

The panda, with the help of Crane and Monkey, got to his feet, "Nothing, sorry, I… just a weird night that's all."

Viper noticed sadly the lack of Tigress in the group, but did not ask where she was. She knew about the tigress' night wanderings, she had followed her once too, feeling at peril all along.

"I'm sorry guys; we should all get to sleep, okay?" Po offered, more than slightly embarrassed and much more unsettled by what had just happened.

"I'll help you fix the door tomorrow, if you'd like." Monkey offered, surveying the broken wood holding the cloth.

"That's okay Monkey, thanks." Po said, entering his room, "Good night guys."

The four cleared to their rooms, Crane sending Po back a 'I know something's up' look, before entering his room. Of course Crane knew something was up, among the Five, Crane was closest to Po, and the two had become great friends in the year that passed; Crane finding Po's humorous, easy-going personality very enjoyable and Po finding Crane's peace and patience to be a great quality.

The panda laid on his bed, his head racing about the events that had happened. It took him many moments to finally clear his head of fears, dismissing the character near the peach tree as Tigress trying to scare him, and the occurrence in his room as an after effect of his dream.

He decided he should tell Crane the truth about what happened tomorrow, Crane was his best friend, and have often joined him to help his father, Mr. Ping at his noodle shop, the two acting as a great customer attraction and having a chance to waiter displaying their Kung Fu abilities, which was an even greater attraction. He wondered what Crane would say, though he could guess. He decided to sleep with a candle burning tonight, just to feel safer. He lit the candle on the candlestick and went back to his bed.

Eventually, the panda fell asleep again, only to wake up sometime later, when it was still dark; he heard footsteps down the hall. They were slow, and even though they were as silent as footsteps could be, he heard them like banging hammers. He knew it was Tigress, coming back from her nocturnal stroll. She passed the others' rooms and reached his, slowing down. Suddenly, a sense of incomprehensible dread passed over the panda, and he cuddled into a fetal position under his covers, not daring to move. From the corner of his eye, he could see her silhouette through the cloth of his door, which was now strangely and completely fixed. She stopped, facing it, and Po began sweating, closing his eyes to pretend he was asleep, and holding tightly to his covers. He heard a creak as his door slowly opened. But then, as he dared open one eye, he saw the silhouette turning and leaving, going back down the hall.

Po let out a small sigh of relief, letting out his scared emotions and breathing in the sweet relief. He noticed that Tigress left his door opened a crack, he could see the hall through it, and he could see Tigress' door was opened even though she never turned from his own door to it, and left down the hall. He tried focusing on what was inside her empty room, but it was too dark to really see anything. Just then, his candle burnt out and right as it did, in the pitch black of his room, Po could see a single, burning orange eye staring at him through the crack of his door.


	2. Chapter 1: Doubts

**Chapter 1: Doubts**

The following morning came with colors of bright yellow and tangerine, dyeing the kitchen in a bright hue of energy. Po, as usual, was preparing breakfast, a nice vegetarian salad with tofu cubes. He figured that after the events the earlier night, a good, healthy meal would be the best solution.

Po set the dishes down with his usual flair, making kung fu noises as he juggled them around, mixing the salads between bowls and not letting a single tofu cube fall down. Then he sat down with his friends, the obvious lacking of Tigress has been experienced many times already, so none of the diners commented on it.

Viper, Monkey and Mantis finished their meals quickly, eager to start their training regimes, but Po signaled Crane to lag behind, and so the great bird pretended to help him wash the dishes.

"What's up?" Crane asked, drying off one of the bowls Po handed to him. "You got back pretty late."

"Yeah," Po let out a half-hearted chuckle, "about that… Do you remember when I broke my door down yesterday?" The bear asked, still slightly embarrassed.

"Uh, no?" Crane retorted, sending him a strange look. "And as far as I could tell this morning, it was fine."

"What?" Po asked, "Yesterday, I fell through my door? You and the others helped me up?" Crane shrugged, "Monkey offered to help me fix it? No? Not coming back?"

Crane spread his wings wide in a questioning gesture. "Is everything alright Po?" he investigated worriedly.

Po stopped with the dishes and turned to face the door of the kitchen, "I don't know Crane. It's just; I've had the craziest night last night, sounds like it was all one big dream. But it was so real! And I, I was scared and…" Crane put a reassuring wing on his shoulder.

"Easy Po. It's alright; just tell me what happened."

Po told him the story shortly, but hesitated at the end, when he reached the point of his unnatural fear of Tigress. Crane listened carefully to every word, and noticed Po's hesitation, "It's okay, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." He assured the panda. "But every bit can help me help you, you know."

"It's just, at the end, I could hear Tigress down the hall, she was about to open my door, which was suddenly fixed, but she only opened it to a crack, then left outside again. So how could it be, that when my candle went out the next second, her eye was watching me like that, through the crack in my door?"

Crane opened his beak, but no words came out, what Po had described was more than just creepy, it was scary. Though Tigress' attitude towards Crane was not as bad as it was towards the panda he still would have completely freaked out to see her eyes staring at him in the dark. What was more worrying, that Po was the chosen one, and by legend, he was to succeed Oogway and Shifu as Grandmaster of the Jade Palace. Crane would not be surprised if Po would have visions as Oogway did. The only question was, if this strange occurrence was indeed something of the sort.

"I think you're worried." The avian finally said, "I mean, Tigress' behavior has been worrying us all for a long time, and it's worse for the wear for you." Po nodded in agreement, "Maybe you should try to catch her and try to talk to her? I mean, _really_ talk to her?"

Po sighed; Tigress to him was something different. She wasn't just a woman, or a kung fu fighter. She was an idol, a role model. She was so dedicated, passionate, and powerful. She was the epitome of Kung Fu. It killed him to see his hero, his role model, the person he had always looked up to in this state. After he defeated Tai Lung, and she called him Master, he was so proud of himself, so proud of what he's done, he ran that moment many times since in his head.

"I don't think I should. But thanks bro." He concurred with the great bird, if this was to be solved; he had to talk to Tigress. Even so, however, his confidence was lacking. He brought peace to Shifu's heart; but he didn't think he could bring it to hers as well. He gave Crane a hearty pat on the shoulder, his large hand causing the bird to stumble a bit. Crane smiled, though in his guts was a knot of dread, he was worried, unless Po tried to really speak to Tigress, this situation would never be concluded. He had a feeling that only the bear would be able to set her straight again, he didn't know why.

The rest of the morning passed peacefully, the five doing their training along with Shifu, the old master wisely keeping Tigress as far as he could from the panda. They began with the standard drills and stretches, then pairing up to spar, and afterwards moving on to the training room for hardcore practice.

Po, in the year that he had been training had mastered the training room, for all its deadly devices. He could now balance himself easily while fighting on the snaking wood walkways, beat Crane on the bowl, and easily go through the field of dummies. Even the fiery jets of fury were no match for the panda's newfound quickness and agility. This made Master Shifu as proud as he could. To have turned the Dragon Warrior from a fat, lazy bear into a Kung Fu Master. He had already mastered several advanced scrolls, and had shown greater promise in one year than the rest of his pupils did in their entire lifetime of training, though Shifu sagely kept this under his ears, not treating Po in any way different than he did them. In fact, Shifu gave them the responsibility of teaching him new skills, figuring that his experience was meant for the old times, and his younger, brighter pupils would add a new flair to their styles.

The afternoon came quickly, and Shifu gave them all a break, the group gathering in the small garden and relaxing in the sun. For once, Tigress joined them in relaxation, not going to the Hall of Heroes for meditation, or back to the training room, or even for a lonely walk.

She began a chat with Viper, her tone neutral, but impatient. She talked in short, to-the-point sentences, and rolled her eyes whenever Viper talked about something she thought was nonsensical.

Po was hanging out with the rest of the guys, exchanging jokes, wondering when they would all go down to Mr. Ping's noodle store and hang around the village, as they enjoyed doing together.

Then the conversation switched to their new "guest".

"Tigress sure is breaking a habit, relaxing." Monkey said, Mantis agreed.

"I thought her idea of relaxing involved breaking boulders." Mantis commented.

Po cleared his throat, trying to steer the conversation away from the feline. However suddenly, the female tiger sprung to her feet and into a bush. The rest jumped to their feet, creeping towards the bush slowly, wondering what she had seen to make her jump so recklessly. However the tigress went out of the bush empty handed, muttering "I could have sworn…" under her breath. Her eyes scoured the courtyard, as though turning over every stone, every hiding place in her mind. Then they met Po's, and the orange flared into a flame, causing the bear to recoil.

"I…" Po started, "Think I'm going over to talk to Master Shifu for a bit… yeah…" He said, edging away, Crane shook his head in disappointment, and Monkey and Mantis shared a look. Viper waved him off sadly with her tail, looking empathic.

Po tried to Find Shifu in his meditation room, but he was not to be found. He thought he could see someone from the corner of his eye, but as he turned his head there was nothing there. Wondering if Crane was following him, he continued outside, heading towards the Sacred Peach Tree, where Shifu also spent much time meditating. But alas, the place was also empty. He decided to try the Hall of Heroes, where else could Shifu be?

He opened the great doors and stepped inside, hearing the brief part of a conversation before it stopped entirely, and two sets of eyes were turned towards him. One pair belonged to his beloved Master Shifu. The other belonged to someone completely different.

The person was a large and powerfully built wolf, aging at around his forties. Sleek grey fur covered his muscled and honed body, and a smile decorated the canine's expression, revealing rows of sharp white teeth. His silver eyes greeted Po warmly, and the person bowed as the panda walked in.

"Ah, Dragon Warrior." Shifu said, "Meet Master…" The red panda started, but was cut across by Po's excited voice.

"I know who this is, this is Master Wolf! The leader of the emperor's Terrible Trio! This is so awesome!" The great panda bowed many times in rapid succession to the kung fu master.

"Thank you, I don't know whether I deserve to be bowed down to by the Dragon Warrior himself!" The kind wolf said, bowing again in respect to the panda warrior. Who yipped so loudly that the Sword of Heroes actually vibrated. "I can't believe Master Wolf; leader of the Terrible Trio, in the flesh is bowing down to me! This is so awesome!"

"Calm down Po, focus." Master Shifu instructed, exchanging a pleasant glance with the wolf.

"I will not take more of your time, Master Shen Long will be waiting for me, and I must still gather supplies for my way back." The great master bowed before Shifu, and once more before Po, but the panda halted him.

"Wait, what about Jackal, and the ever so marvelous Vixen?" The wolf laughed, Shifu joined him in a hearty chuckle.

"They're training. Jackal's still young, and has much to learn. But so far, he's shown great promise. He might even be as good as you are someday." The wolf speculated, Shifu laughed again, but this time it was not a kind laugh. Master Shen Long and he were rivals in every sense of the word, ever since the aged master broke from Oogway's teachings to become, at the emperor's request, his personal bodyguard. It was an act of passion, which paid off. Shen Long was not any less of a master than Shifu, neither did his students fall from Shifu's own. Vixen and Tigress certainly shared a friendly rivalry, and Tai Lung was an arch nemesis to Wolf, they were the leading Kung Fu fighters in all China. Their battles were legendary, individually, they were legion. Together, they were unstoppable.

"Master Wolf, would you have just five more minutes to talk?" Po suddenly asked, perhaps the advice of a wise stranger would do him well.

Wolf nodded, and Po gently shooed away Master Shifu, who seemed highly offended, Po wrote a mental note to make it up to him later. The panda sat the wolf down and began explaining everything that had happened the past year: His insecurities about being Dragon Warrior, Tigress' behavior, and the others' insistence that he should be the one to talk to her. He focused greatly; of course on the strange occurrence of the night before, explaining it in complete detail, and unlike what he told Crane, explaining that what he saw in the peach tree was one of the characters in black from his dream.

The wolf meditated on Po's story for a short while, repeating every word in his head, calming himself down and listening to the message the words formed. Wolves are known to have an excellent sense of hearing, but Master Wolf had another way of listening. To him, sentences often had a completely different meaning than what was meant by the speaker, often betraying hidden weaknesses and fears, revealing more hidden facts, and some times, containing the solution to the problem they posed.

This was not one of those times. Wolf sighed, "I am sorry Dragon Warrior." Wolf said dejectedly, "But I can only offer you what advice has already been offered. This… dread you feel seem to be emanating from her. A solution would be best given if you would manage to get her to talk to you again, bring her back to the idol you admired." The lupine master said.

Po nodded, his features showing nothing less than complete disappointment. He had hoped that Master Wolf would have said something wise and different; perhaps reveal a solution that was right under Po's nose all along. But instead, he only repeated what Crane and the others have already told him. This rested on his shoulders and his shoulders alone.

He thanked the master, bowing before him and letting him on his way, offering to cook him something for the road.

"That would not be necessary Dragon Warrior." The wolf said kindly, but Po interjected.

"Please call me Po." The bear asked, and the canine nodded.

"Po."

The panda extended his hand, thanking the powerful master again, smiling. But as the wolf began walking away, his smile faded, he had not found his solution. Instead, he had only found doubts.

Wolf had begun his descent down the stairs from the Jade Palace, he must have gotten past a quarter of the way when he felt a small breeze coming from the east.

"I can't do it." Wolf sighed, staring ahead at the pastel smears of blue above the clouds, "This can be averted, there has to be a way. The Dragon Warrior…" He started, but then he felt another breeze, this time from the west. He closed his eyes, knowing full well what the failure to find a peaceful solution, his failure meant. He could only hope matters would not become any more complicated, and resolved to stay in the valley for a while.

* * *

Viper slid around uncomfortably, their short break was lasting more than they had expected. This made her worried, while once Shifu was the harshest of masters, keeping them trained every waking minute, lately he has become almost as solitary as Tigress. Viper had no doubt that it had something to do with seeing yet another of his students start down the path to darkness.

She looked at her once closest friend, sorrow etched into her features. "Tigress…" She said quietly, slithering towards her slowly. Tigress was now leaning against the wall of the backyard, choosing a lonely spot and staring out, as though scanning the area for possible threats.

The female tiger raised an eyebrow, turning to look at her. Viper shied away from her gaze slightly, "I'm worried about you, sister…" She whispered.

"I don't see why you would be." Tigress replied, "I'm at my fighting peak now."

Viper hesitated, coiling herself, if she agitated Tigress, she might end up with the same attitude Po was receiving, and she didn't think she could handle it. Tigress was her best friend; she was more of a sister to her than any of her real siblings.

She missed the days when Tigress would let her coil around her body, resting her head on her shoulder and feeling so safe. The two would often bask in the sun this way, napping on the rooftops of the Jade Palace, and just enjoying each other's company. Tigress has not let Viper touch her for months, and their talks were short and concise, usually about their training regime, or Master Shifu.

Tigress looked on her melancholic friend, but stayed indifferent. "I assure you, there are few things now which can endanger me."

Viper nodded, crawling away slowly, heading towards the dormitory. The others, who have watched this sad display, joined her, mostly for her comfort. She was pushing everyone away, turning them from friends… to foes. Did she really want that? She grew up with these people. She shook her head, it didn't matter, such thoughts made her weak. Pushing them away would ultimately make what she wanted to do that much easier. A thin, sickly smile appeared on her lips, and she vanished from where she was. It's only been several days since the last time, but she wanted it, needed it… no… she craved it.

* * *

Viper coiled around the branch in her room she would sleep on, Mantis standing several inches away from her head moving around constantly, which bugged her. No pun intended. The reptile was close to heartbreak now, Tigress was so cold… so… not Tigress. Memories swooped in on her, and she felt like wailing her heart out. Tigress was always kind; always the first to notice if anyone was down. Though she was ferocious and intimidating in her own way, she was never like this. Tigress didn't understand it, but between her and Shifu's falling out with the four and Po, she needed her. She couldn't confess her feelings to anyone else like she could to Tigress. They would sometimes talk for hours in one night, sleeping in each other's rooms and waking up just before dawn to get back to theirs. Viper felt as though she has lost her second half. A part of her wished snakes could cry, if only for an outlet for the frustration and sadness which has built up in her for the past year.

Crane watched the snake sadly, Viper was broken up about the whole affair with Tigress, and it did not surprise him, for they were closer than any of the five, closer than even Monkey and Mantis. Tigress was a good friend to him as well, always helping him out of trouble. He remembered how, when he was a child, that he couldn't even balance himself on The Bowl as they called it, shaped like an upside down tortoise. For days Master Shifu would punish him, scold him, tell him he wasn't training hard enough, he wasn't putting his heart into it. But Crane did, he tried his best, he remembered crying one night on one of the rooftops, how the petite tiger cub came bounding up the walls, and with a warm wink, led him to the training hall. She, of course, mastered The Bowl by then. She started teaching him, giving him tips, correcting him and practicing it with him all night long, to the point of exhaustion. By the next morning, Crane pranced around the bowl like an expert.

He missed that Tigress, the good Tigress, the one who didn't look like she had a shadow looming over her constantly. He, himself, tried to talk to her about it once, but had received a painful lamp to the beak when he pressed the subject after she expressed that she did not wish to talk about it.

Suddenly, he hated Tigress; he was angry, and frustrated. Tigress was being selfish. So she wasn't the Dragon Warrior, wow, big deal. _He_ was just as much a candidate as she was, and even though he knew she was the best of them, he still hoped for it himself, probably just as much as she did, if not more.

Couldn't she see what she was doing to them? How she was breaking up the Furious Five? Even Mantis stopped cracking jokes about it, and though his constant chatter didn't stop, it lessened.

Monkey was affected too, he was always a simian of few words, but now there were even fewer. Crane could swear the ape would go days at a time without speaking. But he hated her most for what she was doing to Viper and Po, those he was closest too. Viper had long since been like a little sister to him, the one he never had in a family of three brothers. He always looked out for her and tried his best to help her whenever he could, and she, in turn, always treated him a bit more kindly than she did the others, letting him have it easy when sparring, and sometimes just sitting in his room, watching him do his calligraphy in content silence.

And Po, the panda was not a confident person, especially not after defeating Tai Lung. He always claimed it was "luck", "fat", "destiny", and whatever not excuses he made up. A bear, who managed to defeat one of the greatest masters by practicing for just _one_ day, thought he was no good. Tigress, at first seemed to welcome him, but that was just for that single moment at the end of that crisis. She had been putting him down ever since, lowering his self esteem to less than zero. He tried to show off his Kung Fu moves so the others won't worry, but Crane saw through that. Po had become a very close friend to Crane, and though he envied him for his title, he knew the panda would have gladly given it away and continued his training as a normal warrior.

The great bird looked over to Monkey and Mantis, Viper had finally snapped and whipped the little bug off her branch, and he was now resting on the meditating Monkey's head, looking pretty miserable. Crane didn't think he ever saw him with a long face like that before. This was terrible; he had to convince Po to talk to her. He had to, if it cost him his life. Not today though, tomorrow, tomorrow he would let the panda have it big time.

* * *

Shifu was meditating in some dark corner he crawled into. He didn't want to be seen, disturbed or anything. He just wanted to think. What was he going to do?

Master Wolf came personally, with a message from the Emperor himself. Word has gotten out about Tigress' deteriorating condition, and the Emperor of China sent him a warning that he must handle this situation, or _he _will. He knew what that meant, it meant another child locked in a prison, unable to move, rotting with hatred and frustration for years over years. A second Tai Lung! He couldn't bear to think of his precious, prized Tigress that way. Why did he keep failing as a master? Why did his students fall so? It was his entire fault, he had failed Tai Lung, and now he was failing her as well. He took a shuddery breath, in the morning; he will begin to deal with this. If nothing else works, he will have to force Tigress into listening to him. The thought that sent chills down his small form though, was that he was not sure he was capable of that anymore. Tigress has surpassed Tai Lung's level long ago, and though he forbade teaching the Five and Po the nerve attack technique, he did teach them how to defend and avoid it. If Tigress really put her mind into it, he feared there was no one in the Jade Palace that could stop her, except maybe the Dragon Warrior.

He cringed when he thought of the connection between Po and Wolf. He had to keep the panda as far away as he could from that Master, or any of the other members of the Trio, some things were not meant to be discovered.

* * *

Tigress was climbing atop the rooftops of the Jade Palace, heading towards a window on the main building, leading into an old attic warehouse. The ladder for it broke ages ago, and since then they kept it closed, but Tigress found it an excellent place to practice her… special occasions this past year. From the corner of her eyes she spotted someone walking down the stairs, Master Wolf? _**THE**_ Master Wolf? She stopped.

She remembered Master wolf, they had met for the first time when she was a child, in the Kung Fu gathering the Emperor had… She always had a crush on the master, especially after seeing him in action. He was everything she wanted to become, swift, decisive, improvising…Even against opponents better than he was he managed to manipulate their surroundings to his advantage, often using his enemies' hidden weaknesses against them. How he figured out those weaknesses was beyond her. He was as good, if not better than his arch nemesis. The terrible snow leopard appeared in her mind. She blocked him out; this was not the time to think of Tai Lung.

So Master Wolf had paid a visit to the Jade Palace? She wondered what it is he was looking for. She stood there for a while, staring at him as he descended the step, he was so far away down now that he seemed miniature, like an action figure. She smirked to herself, but nearly fell off the roof in the next instant, as he turned to look straight into her eyes, his stare grim and resolved. The female Kung Fu master quickly leaped through the window of her tower, entering her "game room", as she called it, wondering if he was aware of her gaze the entire time.

* * *

Po meditated once more, sitting cross legged near the Sacred Peach Tree, looking at the vivid canvas of the sky. The sun was at its peak now, spreading light to the darkest corners. If only it could lighten up Tigress' heart, Po thought. A peach fell near his feet, and he picked it up, splitting it into two perfect pieces. But even as he touched it, he felt something was amiss, and as he gazed into the halves of the fruit, he could see what. It was rotten, the entire peach was rotten. More and more fruit began raining down on the panda, each of them rotten and decayed, the bear shielded his head with his great hands, and got to his feet, to escape this onslaught, but as he turned around to flee the area, he could see a dark character, standing, one of its arms touching the tree, black strands of corruption gushed forth from it, causing the once beautiful tree to become monstrous. When looking upon the face of the character, Po could see one burning orange eye, staring at him from the darkness.


End file.
